20081030

That may be stretching possibilities, but you have to start somewhere. So, Asheville brewer Mike Karnowski is setting out to make a variety of sakes, seasonal and otherwise.

Karnowski, assistant brewmaster at Green Man Brewing, has a background that includes rum making as well as beer. Sake seems a good next step since some regard the rice-based drink of Japanese origin as as wine, some as beer.

The details are here, on the Asheville Citizen-Times newspaper's Web site.

SakéOne, an Oregon operation, claims to be the only American-owned and -operated sake maker in the country.

The gimmick-centric brewer, which styles its products as "He-Brew, The Chosen Beer," says "Proceeds help Coney Island USA, a 501(c)(3) Arts Non-Profit fulfill its mission to defend the honor of lost forms of American popular culture in Brooklyn’s historic Coney Island neighborhood."

Normally I don't like to automatically parrot a company's line explaining its products, but these guys try so hard it's a shame to rewrite them. For example:

"A tasty treat for Octoberfest through Halloween, Coney Island Freaktoberfest is artfully crafted to lure the spirit’s deepest rapture, conjured to exorcise the grim horrors of the armies of soulless Lagers everywhere."

The new brew has been supplied in a limited supply of 22-ounce bottles to specialty shops and select bars nationwide.

20081017

Forget the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest. That's peanuts by comparison to what just went on at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Uniontown, PA.

Brad Sciullo, who works at an Italian restaurant, became the first person to conquer the Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser, a 15-pound hamburger with 5.2 pounds of toppings: lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, banana peppers and a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and relish.

It took him 4 hours, 39 minutes to chomp it all down. Onlookers raised mugs of beer in salute to the feat.

20081013

Talk about a small test market. MillerCoors has chosen Rhode Island as the entry point for Cusqueña, the Peruvian beer that is one of Latin America's favorites.

"Consumers around the world have embraced Cusqueña and we're eager to get this product in the hands of American beer connoisseurs who are intrigued by Cusqueña's interesting origins," Mike Browne, a MillerCoors vicepresident, said in a statement.

"Cusqueña isn't like anything beer drinkers in the U.S. have tried before. We're sure that the beer's quality and crisp flavor will create a demand that will reach beyond Rhode Island in a short amount of time."

The brew is an all-malt lager that is the best-selling premium beer in Peru. It is known for using Saaz hops and pure glacier water from a source at 18,000 feet in the Andes Mountains.

The brand was created by German entrepreneurs who founded the Cervesur Brewery in 1908 in Cusco, seat of the ancient Incan empire. The brewery is located near Machu Picchu. It is brewed in accordance with German Purity Law. Only water, malted barley, hops and yeast are used, and there are no additives or preservatives.

Cusqueña received gold medals at the Monde Selection, Selection and Quality Awards in 2007 and 2008 and is a seven-time winner of superior award ratings in international taste competitions, including the "Superior Taste Award" given by the International Taste and Quality Institute of Belgium.

It is being sold in six-packs of 11.2-ounce bottles. It has 130 calories per 11.2-ounce serving and 4.8% alcohol by volume.

The 27th edition of the Great American Beer Festival that drew 46,000 attendees over the three-day weekend in Denver produced 222 medals for beers in 75 style categories.

In addition, individual breweries and brewpubs were selected for awards.

• Large Brewing Company and Large Brewing Company Brewer of the Year: Anheuser-Busch Inc., Doug Muhleman.• Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year: Pyramid Breweries Inc., Simon Pesch.• Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year: AleSmith Brewing Co., AleSmith Brewing Team.

• Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year: Rock Bottom Brewing, Rock Bottom Brewing Team.• Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year: Redwood Brewing Co., Bill Wamby.

20081004

• Dave Peacock is vice president for marketing of Anheuser-Busch, recently purchased by Belgian brewing giant InBev in a controversial deal. He has to market American products from Budweiser but also has to oversee the company's wine and spirits marketing efforts. Advertising Age thinks there's a problem there, and asked Peacock about it specifically.

Q: "You have been dabbling more in spirits, picking up a number of boutique brands. But in (a recent) speech ... you called wine and liquor "the enemy." You said specifically that you could not be "outromanced by wine" or "outfunned by liquor." Those didn't sound like the words of someone who wants to play in that space."

A: "We started looking at liquor and wine a long time ago because of the emerging macro trends [of wine and liquor gaining share from beer]. And we really did believe we owed it to our shareholders to do this [because of consumer trends increasingly favoring spirits].

"We tested some things in liquor. But we started making the decision back in the first quarter of this year that we were probably going to disentangle that. It didn't work really well at the wholesale level. Those brands are marketed very differently than beer. The category is much more fragmented. And, frankly, we see upside in beer. We've seen beer have a little bit of a resurgence."